Expanding the donor pool: living donor nephrectomy in the elderly and the overweight.

BACKGROUND: Increasing demand for donor kidneys, in parallel with trends toward more elderly and obese populations, make it important to continuously review donor pool inclusion criteria. Acceptance of elderly and obese living donors remains controversial, with a higher incidence of comorbidity and the greater risk of postoperative complications sighted as reasons for caution. Drawing on our center's experience, we aim to determine whether older age and obesity are in fact associated with greater perioperative risk, and longer term complications in donors undergoing nephrectomy.
METHODS: Three hundred eighty-three living donor nephrectomies conducted at one of the United Kingdom's largest transplant units over the last 5 years were stratified into groups according to age and body mass index. Perioperative endpoints and postdonation follow-up data collected at 6-to-12-monthly intervals were analyzed and compared.
RESULTS: No significant differences in operative parameters, including operative time and estimated blood loss, were reported between groups. Rates of early postoperative complications were not significantly different, although subgroup analysis showed a higher incidence of respiratory complications at the extremes of obesity (body mass index ≥ 40 kg/m²). On follow-up, renal function parameters showed significant change postnephrectomy, but between-group variation was not significant. Mortality and major complication rates were comparably low in all groups of study.
CONCLUSIONS: In our unit's experience, nephrectomy in selected donors who may otherwise have been precluded from participation on account of their age or weight, is feasible and associated with perioperative and longer term outcomes comparable with their younger nonobese counterparts. It provides a basis for informed consent of "extended criteria" donors.